Do so, I think you will be surprised to see the overwhelming majority of sharks fans taking the team to task for its mistakes. Sharks fans are surprisingly hockey savvy and tend to be very critical of their team (for good reason). If we lose it is either to a better team or more often the not because the sharks simply failed to bring their A game. Blaming the Ref's is a waste of time. No victims!
PS: tonight was B+/A- game for the Sharks. That was the best defensive play I have seen from the Sharks since the late season run. If they continue to play good team D like tonight this is going to be a tough series.

A little rat with the heart of a tiger. I will take Pavelski anyhow anyway anyday on any team. The guy is absolutely clutch, particularly against the wings. I imagine the rat moniker comes with a certain level of respect????
Hate to say it because I don't want to give fuel to the fire, but the 4 min penalty in OT was kind of weak. 2min yea, but 4? Not unless his ear fell off.
That being said, I was somewhat surprised the wings weren't more fired up when they killed off the penalty. I expected quite a bit more energy from them at that point. In my opinion, that was the difference in the game. Wings effort was spotty at best, when they were on they obviously dictated the play, but they seemed to get tired or disinterested for long stretches. The score could have been much higher if not for Howard.

No way they change the top two lines, particularly this early in the series. I can see the wings flip flopping the top two lines to try to exploit the weaker and slower defensive play of the clowe/heater line, force the Sharks energy line to have to play more defensively and put the pressure on Joe and Patty to produce. Knowing the sharks this is what I would do. Wings are also going to have to account more for the 3/4 lines of the sharks this year. Pavs has been killing it since they moved him down. Much more production from our 2nd tier players this year.

Wow, seems not much changes around here. Team loses a game and the only possible excuse is officiating. If this is true, I would suggest the wings learn to flop better. Clearly that is the key to winning a series against the sharks.....LOL
To the rest who saw a fairly tight game, lets see what happens game 2, have a feeling the wings players are going to shake off the rust and come out firing. Have a feeling this is going to be a much tighter series then last year, wouldn't be surprised with low scoring and 7 games. Good luck guy's!

I just can't celebrate my team making the WCF for the second time in Sharks history. I much prefer hanging around commiserating with the great fans here at LGW and discussing the storied dynasty and gold standard of hockey that is the Red Wings.

I agree with most of you said. I suppose I look at it a little differently. Probably because of the way our team has always played. The Sharks have never been an edgy team, meaning they didn't try to get away with a lot stuff. Because of this they have never established a reputation, which in my opinion does follow teams.
That being said, the Sharks have probably gotten the short end of many games on the score board, because they didn't take "liberties" and play the game on the edge, they gave the other team an advantage.
This year, they are playing more edgy. They are fighting to win, where they didn't previously. The Sharks earn a lot of calls against opposing teams playing as hard as they do on the forecheck and (I believe) because of their perceived style of play reputation for being a clean team.
Edit: I would also say a team has to be cognizant of the officiating within a game. Pay attention to what the refs are calling and not calling. The Wings (deserved or not) gave the officials too many opportunities to make bad calls with poor stick management, bad positioning etc. If is looks like a penalty a poor skating official is probably going to call it. The players have to take responsibility for this.

So based on the points made here, does anyone think Stuart should have been called for the shot to Murray's head shortly after the Franzen no-call. Murray's lip was shredded, guy was bleeding all over himself? For that matter, should Stuart have received something more then a minor for the elbow to Pavelski's head? According to the new rules that is a game misconduct penalty.
How about knocking Thornton's stick out of his hands from behind (forget the player), leading directly to your teams only score?
I would have a lot more respect for the officiating sucks threads if the posts were at least marginally unbiased.
Bottom line is, Sharks won by beating the Wings at their own game, which many of you gloated would never happen.

Two games both teams dressed 7 D men. Both teams were focusing on short shifts as well.
The Sharks skated a pseudo 4th line throughout the series, but never consistently. McLellan mixed it up pretty good. Don't know enough about the Wings to know what Babs did.

Hey Wings fans, good series, I know a lot of you are bummed but this was clearly the Sharks year to take this series.
For those complaining about the officiating and all, give it a break. The Sharks won, not because of officiating, but because they played better, more disciplined hockey, at the right times. Last night was the best game of the series; both teams showed up and played tough hockey. The officials for the most part swallowed their whistles last night. Despite this, the Sharks won, when it counted, which seals the deal.
Either way, the Wings were one of the top 4 teams in the league this year, standings aside. Re-tooling the team makes absolutely no sense to me. I fully expect the Wings to be a younger & healthier team next year; making them a legitimate threat to take the cup again...
Until then, have a great summer guy's, look forward to more of this next year!

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